Mexico’s blistering shooting continues, while turnovers continue to plague QND

QUINCY — Darren Pappas has seen this act before. 

The coach of the Mexico (Mo.) boys basketball team has had a front row seat to the Bulldogs’ perimeter prowess.

“When we get our feet set, I like our chances,” Pappas said with a grin.

Mexico made eight of its first nine shots, had seven first half threes and shot 54.5 percent from the floor in defeating Quincy Notre Dame 72-54 in Saturday’s nightcap of the KHQA/American Family Insurance Superfan Shootout at The Pit.

The Bulldogs (15-5), who are receiving votes in Class 4 in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association state rankings, extended their winning streak to seven games and have only lost once since the calendar turned to 2025.

“We’ve been shooting at a really high rate right now from the perimeter,” Pappas said. “Tonight, we had nine threes. (Friday) night (against Moberly) we had 11 threes, Tuesday night (against Warrenton) we had 14 threes, so we’re shooting it really well from the outside.”

That’s 34 3-point field goals over a three-game stretch. 

The barrage of triples, as well as the overall offensive success of the opponent, left QND coach Greg Altmix searching for answers. Altmix is adamant that improvements must be made on defense moving forward.

“We’re going to see replays of this the remainder of this season if we don’t play better defense,” Altmix said. “After getting popped in the mouth on Friday night (against Helias), popped in the mouth again on Saturday night, are we just going to take it? Are we going to get our rear ends up off the mat and come out swinging?”

QND (13-9) found itself fighting from behind from the outset. The Raiders trailed 19-14 after the first quarter and dug themselves a 10-point deficit (35-25) at halftime. After getting outscored 18-10 in the third frame, the hole became too deep to overcome.

Self-inflicted wounds didn’t help, either. The Raiders had 14 turnovers after the first 16 minutes of play and finished with 20 in the contest. Couple that with Friday’s struggles against Helias, and QND had a combined 38 miscues in 24 hours.

“It’s hard to get in your offense,” Raiders junior guard Beau Eftink said. “We couldn’t get any buckets because we were turning over the ball so much and just didn’t score.”

When QND did get in its offense, the shooting woes, notably from beyond the arc, continued. The Raiders finished 4 of 19 (21 percent) from the 3-point line against Mexico and made just 6 of 34 (17.6 percent) during  the shootout.

“Just a tough weekend,” Altmix said. “We’re not going to be a team that’s reliant on making threes because we’re not a great 3-point shooting team. We’ve got some guys who can knock it down, and usually, at least one of them is feeling it. But there were too many times where we didn’t make the right pass to the right guy. Now all of a sudden, their defense looks so much better because we missed the one open man that might have had the best look for that possession.”

QND was led by junior guard Jace Allensworth, who finished with 17 points, Eftink had a dozen, and junior forward Jackson Connoyer chipped in 10.

The Bulldogs got most of their production from three players. Junior guard Kaden Benne made six threes and had a game-high 26 points, senior guard Jaydon Eldridge added 19, and senior guard PJ Perkins pitched in with 12 points.

Benne was the difference maker and received the game’s MVP honors.

“Kaden is capable of having those type of nights every night,” Pappas said. “He puts in the extra work outside of practice, those unseen hours that people speak of. He’s constantly in the gym working on his game.”

While Mexico capped off a two-win weekend, QND is left to pick up the pieces following a winless two-night stretch. The Raiders have four games in five nights next week, starting with Tuesday’s trip to Unity.

“It’s going to take that grit, that grind, that fire, that passion, those things that make champions,” Altmix said. “The guys have got to want to come in and have that desire to give it everything that they’ve got.”